Chapter 15: Kanemitsu Masamune
"A very cliché story, isn't it?"
"But a very beautiful one," Lu Mingfei said sincerely.
Hearing the boy's heartfelt praise, the man's eyes crinkled with a smile.
"Indeed. In my eyes, Kiku was the most wonderful gift in the world."
"And then? Did you two end up together?" Lu Mingfei asked, full of curiosity.
"Right, we got together! I confessed first!" the man said with immense pride, as if confessing to the girl he loved was his most boastful and glorious achievement—compared to that, his legendary yakuza past meant nothing at all!
"That was when I learned that Kiku had actually harbored feelings for me for a long time."
"In the eyes of others, I was an unforgivable yakuza boss, committing every conceivable atrocity, burning, killing, and looting. But in Kiku's eyes, I was always just a weary man journeying through the dust of the world, nothing more."
"Kiku and I built a home like that. Kiku still sold roses at the entrance of the movie theater, and I grew weary of violence and bloodshed. I became increasingly perfunctory about the Family's missions, but back then, I had already completed the Family's trials ahead of schedule, so I was summoned back to the Main Family."
"Because of my exceptional abilities, the Main Family entrusted me with heavy responsibilities, and the Family Head bestowed a famous sword upon me. My position grew higher and higher, and I had more and more trusted aides. Of course, I didn't forget to have my subordinates secretly look after Kiku's flower-selling business."
"On our wedding day, I bought out all the roses from an entire flower shop in Kabukicho and, along with the shop itself, gave them to Kiku as a wedding gift, not far from the movie theater where she used to sell flowers."
"Kiku said she had lived a half-life of hardship, accompanied only by roses, and that every day she would trim a single rose and place it at the shop's entrance, praying for my safe return home." The man's face glowed radiantly in the fiery red setting sun.
His face was as passionate as a rose, while his clear eyes concealed a plain cornflower.
"This world is such a mess, yet there is still a clean, bright moon silently keeping watch over your sky. So this is what love is!" Moved by the man's story, the corners of the boy's mouth could not help but bloom with a lovely smile, though he knew not whom he was thinking of.
"Yes, this world really is a mess, and Kiku was my only clean moon." The man named Kenzirō gave a deep look at the boy and at the sincere smile on the corners of the boy's mouth.
"Kiku was my angel, but wherever there are angels in this world, there must surely be evil ghosts. On that rainy night, an evil ghost descended upon me."
The man's tone suddenly shifted, as if his entire person had turned into an evil ghost shrouded in hatred; the animosity in his words spilled over from between his lips and teeth.
"In the end, it was all of my own making. As the Family's ghost-slayer, I was unwilling to create any more bloodshed and karmic entanglements, yet the evil ghost was released by my own hand, and retribution finally descended upon me."
"My memories of that night are already quite hazy. I only remember that the rain was so heavy it felt as if it were about to engulf the entire city of Tokyo. The Family had developed a potion capable of releasing power, and amidst the widespread celebrations, I, holding a position of great responsibility, stayed late and drank myself blind drunk, completely unaware that Kiku was already pregnant with my child at that time. The moment I returned to the flower shop and pushed open the door, I beheld a tragic nightmare that I would never forget for the rest of my life."
"The flower shop had been reduced to ruins; the shop windows and vases were streaming with blood even more scarlet than roses. Lightning tore through the clouds, and amid the torrential rain where heaven and earth were inverted, Kiku's cries and pleas for help seemed so feeble. She lay collapsed there in a pool of blood, her gaze helpless and unfocused, while an evil ghost gnawed at her body beside her."
"I broke down. It felt as though my brain had been heavily struck by a ten-thousand-ton iron hammer, smashing my soul into smithereens. I roared like a madman, fighting the evil ghost amidst Kiku's fresh blood, and finally, bathed in Kiku's blood, I slaughtered the evil ghost."
"Kiku's blood on my body had already grown cold, stiffening and scabbing over. I wandered alone through the streets of the midnight city, seeing a ghost in everyone I looked at. I cursed them furiously, brandished the sword in my hand, and even hacked down quite a few innocent passersby."
"It was as if the ghost that mutilated Kiku had never truly been slain by me; it burrowed deep into my heart, and I seemed to have transformed into a new evil ghost, one whose sins the all-night rain could never wash away."
"The gods bestowed upon me a dreamlike, immensely precious memory, only to take back my cornflower and my roses."
"Failing to protect the person who mattered most leaves the latecomer with nothing but endless anger and remorse. The emotion of regret is like a poison with no antidote; it obliterates your beautiful memories, leaving you only with helpless, agonizing pain and the thought: 'We might as well just die together.' That thought sprouted in my mind and then took deep root, slicing away at me like a thousand cuts during every lonely, desolate night."
"Having regained my senses, I wanted to drive the evil ghost out of my body, so I severed the arm that had once held the sword, left the Family to atone for my sins, and returned with Kiku to live in her homeland."
The man pulled open his kimono. The tattoo spanning his chest was an evil ghost with bared fangs, but half of the ghost's face came to an abrupt halt at his right shoulder—because the right sleeve of the man's haori was completely empty.
Lu Mingfei gazed at the man's profound face and empty right arm, his heart unsettled for a long time.
How similar was all this to his own story in the illusion! In that story, he too had failed to protect that important girl. Even though he ultimately transformed into the ultimate monster, annihilating the nightmare woven from blood and white, so what? He still lived on with faltering steps, as if doing penance!
"Just now, when you were squatting at the doorway muttering to yourself, for the first time in a long time, I seemed to see Kiku in your eyes." The man's words snapped Lu Mingfei out of his thoughts. He looked at the man, not entirely understanding.
"In your eyes, there is a cornflower of your own—the girl you were secretly longing for just now. Seeing you reminded me of my former self," the man explained to Lu Mingfei, full of emotion. "If only I could go back to being your age; this time, I would definitely protect my Kiku."
Unsure of what he suddenly recalled, the man turned back into the izakaya and emerged once more, except this time he was holding a long sword with a deep red hilt.
"This is the ghost-slaying blade I once used." The man's sole remaining hand stroked his former beloved sword. "I am old now. I have lost the hand to hold a sword, and the strength to wield one again; but you are still young, and your eyes hide a lion. A magnificent, untamed youth awaits you."
"Take this sword." The man said gently.
"You are giving me such a precious item upon our very first meeting; I am unworthy of such a gift," Lu Mingfei said repeatedly, shaking his head and declining.
"Allowing it to gather dust and grow mold beside someone like me, whose days are nearly spent, would be an insult to a famous blade. Child, the very first moment I saw you, I felt as though its true master had arrived. Hold this sword tightly for me, slay the evil ghosts of this world, and protect the girl you love. Will you?" the man asked, almost pleadingly.
The man solemnly offered the sword with the ritual of a Japanese swordsman, and Lu Mingfei knew that if he were to hesitate or refuse now, he would truly be a hypocritically pretentious fool!
"May I ask, sir, what is the name of this blade?"
"The Famous Blade: Kanemitsu Masamune!"